GRAMOPHONE NOTES
AMONG the March and April new recordings the most important is a recording of Sibelius's Symphony No. 7 in C Major, Op. toy, played by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra under V. Golschmann (H.M.V. DB8964-6). I also recommend the Handel Passacaglia from the Harpsichord Suite, No. 7, arranged by Halvorsen for violin and viola and superbly played by Jascha Heifetz and William Primrose (H.M.V. DB617o). Very welcome is Berlioz's Beatrice and Benedict Overture played by the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra under Basil Cameral,. The superb Boston Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Serge Koussevitzky, is rather wasted on Copland's symphonic fantasia entitled El Salon Mexico, which is a rather formless though lively collection of more or less effective tricks (H.M.V. DB3812-3), but on the third side there is a good recording by the same orchestra of the Song of the Volga Boatmen.
The combination of pianoforte and orchestra is a favourite one with gramophone enthusiasts, and they will welcome a recording of Dohnanyi's Variations on a Nursery Tune, played by Cyril Smith and the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra under Dr. Malcolm Sargent (Col. DX8194-8196). Cyril Smith is technically one of our best pianists, and gives a brilliant performance. Unfortunately, there is a fault on the first side of the review copy sent to me. In my opinion, Dohnanyi's is a meretricious composition, and I marvel that the Gramophone Company should record it while there are so many of Mozart's magnificent pianoforte concertos unrecorded, to
say nothing of concertos by Stravinsky, Hindemith and Bartok that are much superior musically. Another recording that musically
is quite negligible is Symphonie Moderne, from the film "Four Wives," played by the Janssen Symphony Orchestra of Los Angeles. Very little, if any, film music is worth listening to for its own sake, and this is no exception. Among the vocal records I commend Joan Hammond and Dennis Noble's singing of two duets from Act II of La Traviata, with the
Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra under Basil Cameron (H.M.V. C3387), in spite of the fact that they are sung in English; which spoils them for most musical ears ; also, as usual, the orchestra is kept much too far in the background. When will the recording companies realise that the voices are only a part, and a minor part at that, in the operas of really great composers such as Verdi? W. J. T.
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